I'm a Four Chicken Coop Woman

In the classic LDS movie "Johnny Lingo" the village women are sitting around talking about how many cows their husbands paid for them. There is one woman's whose husband paid 2 cows, while another brags that hers paid 3 cows for her. So imagine their surprise when Johnny Lingo pays 8 cows for Mahana, commonly thought the ugliest woman in the village. By the end of the movie this ugly, shy girl has blossomed into a beautiful and happy woman. Johnny says that it is not being beautiful that determines a woman's worth, but that what a woman thinks she is worth that makes her beautiful (or something like... I kind of paraphrased :).

Well, if Mahana was an 8 cow woman, then I am a 4 chicken coop woman.

In the last several months my husband has built me 4 chicken coops. I haven't asked him to build any of them, he's just done it. I'm sure there were other projects that he would have like to have gotten done before, but he knew how much the chickens meant to me (yes, I'm kind of a weirdo) so he's worked like a madman to get them done. Basically... he loves me.

Coop #1 -- The Raccoon's McDonald's

First there was this one

which he surprised me with after coming home from a trip. But because we didn't put a cover on top of the run all the chickens got eaten by a raccoon. It was awful, and I think it has been his motivation for making me increasingly better and more raccoon proof chicken boxes.

Coop #2--- The Mini-Cooper

Not long after the chicken incident I got 6 new chicks. Once they out grew their cardboard box in the basement Jon built this one for them.

It is quite ingenious for being thrown together from the scraps we had lying around our yard.

Coop #3-- The chicken cathedral

After all our chickens got eaten by a raccoon (sob) he decided my chickens needed a better home. So he built this one, which he just finished last week. One side is a chicken coop and the other side is a shed.

He has really done an amazing job on this. It is quite the chicken palace, because one the side with the windows the ceiling is 10 feet high. It is big enough for me to have lots more chickens! Oh, and check out Asher in pursuit of the little black chicken. Don't worry he didn't catch her... this time.

Coop #4--- The Magical Egg Machine

This really isn't a coop, it is our nest boxes, but it took Jon about as long to make as did coops #1 and #2. So far it has been working great... eggs magically appear in it every day.

Our chickens are really getting grown up. We've heard some of them crowing in the morning, so I'm pretty sure we have at least 2 roosters. But it is still hard to know which ones are hens and which are roosters. I'm hopping we start getting some new eggs in the next little bit so that we can be 100% sure.

We call our Polish chickens the "Rock stars" because they look SO cool and have the attitudes to got with it. If there was ever a McJagger of chickens, this rooster is it.

This is Mrs. Featherstone, the Cochin

Remember when I thought I had 4 silkies? Well it turns out that 2 of them were actually Cochins. The Cochins are actually my favorites because they have feathers on their feet and look so ridiculous when they run! I'm pretty sure we have a rooster and a hen, so this spring they can have babies... maybe.

Mr. Featherstone, the Cochin rooster, hanging with the older ladies.

And then just because it is so completely adorable. Here is a video of Asher with one of his freshly caught chickens.